Hmm: PPP Poll Shows Elizabeth Warren Leading Scott Brown

Daniel Doherty

3/20/2012 2:40:00 PM - Daniel Doherty

A new poll conducted in the Bay State finds Elizabeth Warren leading incumbent Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown by five percentage points:

Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren leads Republican Scott Brown
by 5 points, 46-41, a new poll from Public Policy Polling finds. Warren has increased her lead from 46-44 the last time PPP polled Massachusettes in September 2011. Scott Brown still enjoys almost unanimous support from Republicans, winning their share of the vote 89-3. Brown even takes a fair share of Democratic voters, taking 17% of them to Warren’s 72%, and he also wins independent voters by 12 points, 48-36. The difference is that in his 2010 victory Brown won independent voters by 32 points.

Considering PPP is a Democratic polling company, the numbers from the survey are somewhat suspect. As it happens, according to twonon-partisan polls conducted at the end of February, Scott Brown held an 8 point and 5 point lead, respectively, over his presumptive Democratic challenger. The question, then, is does this poll genuinely reflect public opinion in Massachusetts, or is PPP’s latest survey just another example of leftwing bias?

To be fair, it’s difficult to tell. But it’s striking that Senator Brown is losing so much ground in such a short period of time. His modest 12 point lead among independent voters is far less than it was, say, three weeks ago when Rasmussen Reports conducted their findings. That being said, perhaps it’s best to wait for a less partisan poll to drop before jumping to conclusions or declaring Elizabeth Warren the frontrunner.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this: Senator Brown mingling with swing voters -- and bagpipers -- in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day. Take a look: